Vintage Guild Jetstar Bass – Refin and Restoration

This online auction purchase made a layover at CFW for a body refin, before heading to its new home in France.

The buyer lives in France and the seller lives in Chicago. So before it shipped, the new owner of this vintage Guild Jetstar Bass asked that it be brought here so we could remove a clear refin, and restore its original 3-tone sunburst look.  The trick, was to make the new body finish blend in with the original burst finish still on the neck.

Here’s the untouched neck with its original sunburst finish.

Someone did a very good job of refinishing the body with clear lacquer and it aged nicely. But the new owner really wanted it to be a full sunburst like it was originally. So we got to work stripping back to the bare wood.

Before refinishing, Dan sands the body until all of the old finish is gone. The pickup rout still has the original base yellow color, so he’ll leave that alone and use it for a color reference.

Next, it’s into the booth for sealer coats and a base of vintage yellow.

Then the dark outer burst…

…and finally the red inner burst.

After amber top coats, we distress the finish to blend in with the years of heavy wear on the neck.

What a great looking and sounding bass.  We’ll pack it up carefully and ship it to its new home in Paris!